Guy Ritchie didn't want King Arthur to be 'worthy'

Guy Ritchie has admitted he didn't want to make King Arthur "worthy" because that would make him an unlikeable character

Guy Ritchie didn't want King Arthur to be a "worthy" character.

The 48-year-old director has been working on 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' and wanted to make the titular medieval hero - who is played by Charlie Hunnam - as "likeable" as possible so felt it was important he had a "naughty" side.

He said: "The fundamental challenge with King Arthur is to make him likeable.

"If you're not careful, he's worthy. And once someone's worthy they're not likeable. So we had to create a character naughty enough for us to like him and simultaneously have him go on a journey that makes him respectable."

Guy had planned to depict a "rather dour, gloomy world" - only to find themselves shooting in a "f***ing stunning" forest filled with greenery and dandelion seeds blowing in the breeze.

He laughed: "There's all this tough-speak going on, and you have all these fluffy seed-pods blowing around! Not the aesthetic I was going for.

"I've learned that if you've got this in mind, then you get that. So you work with that.

"It looks like f***ing fantasy!"

Charlie's King Arthur is more "streetwise" than previous versions of the character, having grown up in a brothel in post-Roman Londinium.

The actor told Empire magazine: "He's more streetwise and rough around the edges than most of the Arthurs we've seen.

"He's a wide-boy scoundrel with a heart of gold, who has a health ho has a healthy disdain for the ruling class."